Marking With Bowie
by NCISVILLE
Summary: When the Doctor shows up as she's marking Courtney Wood's paper some trouble follows and Clara is having a hard time answering a simple question. Post Mummy on The Orient Express pre Flatline Whouffaldi Week day 3
**Marking with Bowie**

Clara chewed on the cap of her red pen as she read yet another one of the essays she'd assigned to her class. She had one of her Bowie vinyl records playing softly in the corner to help dull the ache in her brain from all the marking. Some of her students were very bright and had taken their assignment to put themselves in Jane Austen's book Pride and Prejudice seriously, others like Courtney Woods…not so much. That girl took every opportunity to make her life hell in class and now that she'd traveled in the Tardis and saw her with the Doctor, she'd started writing over all her papers, 'Ozzie loves the Scottie'. She rolled her eyes every time she saw it but a part of her liked it and it made her heart beat just a little bit faster for a few seconds. If it was obvious to someone like Courtney Woods, was it obvious to Danny? She was humming along to the song playing, ' _Loving the Alien_ ', when a creak of her door moved her attention.

"What are you still doing here Clara?" The Doctor asked, his head poking through the door while the rest of his body was hidden.

Clara chuckled at the sight and smiled. "Marking papers while Bowie soothes my aching mind from my kids' dastardly writing."

"Can I join you?"

"Yeah, I could use the break." She set the pen down and smiled gratefully, happy to see him.

"I went by your flat first, thought this was the next place I might find you."

"Well you found me." She smiled at him and gestured to one of the desks. Instead he stood beside her.

"Move over, let me see those papers that are giving you a headache." He pushed her chair over and took up the paper she had been marking. Courtney Woods.

She tried to grab at the paper but to no avail and watched as his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Ozzie loves the Scottie? What does that mean? Who's Ozzie?"

"I um…just ignore that."

"I saw that scribbled in the janitor's closet too. What does it mean Clara?" He asked innocently.

"Oh just…girls being girls." She dismissed with a wave of her hand.

"Has your face gotten redder?"

"Why are you here Doctor?" She asked snatching the paper from his hands.

"I got bored, just wanted to come and spend some time with you, maybe go see a planet of diamonds later." He shrugged. "So what does it mean?"

"You really don't want to know."

"I don't want to know or you don't want to tell me?" He countered. Clara threw her hands up with a sigh.

"Fine you want to know? It means that I love you. Ozzzie is Courtney's nickname for my last name and you're the Scottie because of your accent."

His eyebrows seemed to make him look even more confused and his frown deepened. "Why would she say that?"

"Well she seems to think that you and I are in love with each other and she's very good at rhyming. I will give her that."

"But you're dating Danny, why would she think that you love me?"

"Because she's a middle school girl. I don't know." Clara said throwing up a hand in exasperation with a roll of her eyes.

The Doctor was silent for a moment and Clara was about to ask him if he was okay when he looked at her and asked, "Do you love me?"

"I uh what?" She asked completely taken aback by his question. She hadn't seen that coming.

"Do you love me?" He asked again.

What was going on with him? He always avoided conversations like this, and she'd just given him an out, a way to say 'nevermind' but instead he just repeated his question looking at her imploringly. Damn those adorable puppy eyes that he never knew he was making.

"Why are you asking?" Was all she could think to say. Answer a question with a question, divert attention from her to him. Brilliant.

"Because I want to know if it's true. Children are perceptive Clara, they see things we don't see in our own lives and they're blunt. Courtney Woods is a lot of things but stupid is not one of them."

Clara felt trapped and he looked confident. What was he trying to do? Make her confess she loved two men and that every time she was with either she felt like she was cheating on the other? Was that what he wanted to hear? Why would he even make her confess such a thing? What good would it do? All her confession would accomplish is a ruined friendship. She'd heard his message loud and clear before she'd even had the chance to realize her own feelings. _'I'm not your boyfriend Clara'_.

"Please Doctor, don't make me answer." She begged, taking a step back towards her record machine, closer to the sounds of the vinyl but all she heard was Bowie singing _'And you'll believe you're loving the alien, Believing the strangest things, loving the alien.'_ She swallowed thickly. Even Bowie was turning against her, telling her to confess.

"Tell me Clara. Do you love me?" His voice was a mixture of affection, hope, caution, and desperation. He'd yet to take his eyes off her, watching as she tried to run away from the question.

"Why does it even matter Doctor? What good will my answer do? All it does is create a chasm between us. Why can't we just stay like this? Not caring about labels or words like love? You've already said you don't want any type of romantic relationship with me, so why ask me if I love you? To mock me? Tease me and my pathetic human emotions? Why?!" She cried out, tears pricking the corner of her eyes.

"Clara." He croaked, as if she'd just punched him in the gut. "How could you think such a thing? I would never belittle your feelings."

"You have in the past! When you found out I was dating Danny you insulted me to no end and you insulted him." Tears had begun to slowly fall down her face and she wished he'd just leave, just leave her alone to her markings and her music.

"I was jealous Clara!" He cried out with a laugh of disbelief at her.

"What? Jealous? Why were you jealous?"

"How could I not be?" He asked walking up to her. "You were giving him all your attention and affections, affections I wanted directed toward me."

Clara's eyes widened. "What are you trying to say Doctor?" She whispered.

"Isn't it obvious?" He asked reaching down and placing a hand on her cheek, cupping her face. His gaze was so much softer and all Clara could see in his eyes was adoration and it was directed at her. With a smile on his face he said in a low voice, "Scottie loves Miss Ozzie."

Her breath caught in her chest and for a minute she couldn't breathe as she absorbed the weight of his words. He loved her. He _loved_ her. He loved _her_. The Doctor loved her.

"And he's wanting to know if maybe Ozzie loves her Scottie." Clara couldn't help but choke out a laugh as some tears fell down her face and she nodded her head vigorously.

"Yes. Yes. Oh God yes." His face lifted into a brilliant smile and Clara found herself lost in his eyes and his smile. "I've always loved you."

"I've always loved you too Clara Oswald, my Impossible Girl." She laughed and couldn't contain her joy any longer. She grabbed his face with both hands and pulled him down until their lips crashed together. It didn't last more than a few seconds and at first he was too shocked to respond but happily kissed her back before she pulled away with a wide smile and her heart so light that she couldn't contain the giggle that erupted. She looked at him for a brief second before pecking his lips again. She quickly let go of him and began to run towards the door of her classroom.

"Where are you going?" He asked in confusion.

"To break up with the man I've been stringing along this whole time." She replied with a smile. "I'll be back to snog you senseless in a few minutes. Don't go anywhere and don't you dare touch my papers I have to mark."

The Doctor smiled and gave her a wink. "I'll do my best."

Clara laughed and disappeared out her door, reaching for the cellphone in her pocket.

The Doctor waited until she was further down the hall before picking Courtney's paper back up and read a random line.

' _If I was living in Jane Austen's book then Miss and The Doctor would be Mr. Darcy and Ms. Bennett. It's very obvious how they both feel about each other except to one another.'_

The Doctor chuckled and shook his head. Leave it to Courtney to turn an assignment into her own personal journal entry. She wasn't wrong though. He laughed again and sat down in Clara's chair reading the rest of Courtney's paper. The girl was clever but extremely overbearing and a bit rude. This time however, she was just all around correct. He set her paper down when he finished and thought back to Clara kissing him. He'd forgotten what her lips tasted like, and they felt different now against his new ones, but it was a pleasant feeling. A feeling he was looking forward to indulging in regularly.

"That's taken care of, now…where were we?" Clara asked as she walked back into the classroom.

The Doctor grinned and swiveled in her chair to face her. "I believe you were about to snog me senseless." He replied.

"Yes I was." She answered with a grin.

"What about your markings?"

"Oh, I think Bowie and I can finish later." She replied with a wink as she sat down on his lap, straddling him.

"I think that's a great idea." He replied, seconds before her lips were on his again. This time however, there was no intention to stop. And they didn't.

XxxxXXxxxEndxxxXXxxxX


End file.
